Greed Leads to Disobedience

“But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him”.  II Kings 5:20

Naaman, the Syrian military leader, had obeyed the prophet Elisha and bathed seven times in the Jordan River resulting in a complete healing of his leprosy.  He then recognized Israel’s God as the only God in all the earth.  To show his gratitude to Elisha, he offered him gifts, but Elisha refused for he knew that it was not right for him to accept gifts for being the instrument through which God healed people.  Naaman insisted, but Elisha held his ground and would not accept these gifts.  Naaman did make one request of Elisha.  He desired to take two loads of Israel’s soil back with him to Syria to perhaps make an altar to God.  He could have believed that this soil from Elisha’s yard had some sort of special power that would enhance his worship of God, or he perhaps just wanted the soil as a reminder of his encounter with God and Elisha.

Naaman promised that he would no longer worship idols, but the LORD God only, except when he had to accompany the Syrian king into the house of the idol, Rimmon. That is what one calls “compromising”.  The challenge is not to live peacefully among the worldly folks by keeping one’s faith in Christ to oneself.  That is not a challenge.  The real challenge is living out one’s faith in thought, word, and deed among the world’s scoffers, deniers, the indifferent and before Christians in name only.  Elisha understood Naaman’s situation and that he was a brand-new believer.  Hopefully, he would grow in his knowledge of God and eventually leave idolatry.  In his position as a military officer for Syria, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.  Taking the gifts with him, he left to return home.

Enter Gehazi, Elisha’s servant.  After thinking about it, he decided that if Elisha wasn’t going to take advantage of Naaman’s gifts, then someone should, and that someone should be him.  After years of remaining with Elisha, one would think that godliness would have influenced Gehazi to live righteously, and that would include not doing anything that Elisha wouldn’t do.  The influence of a righteous man or woman doesn’t guarantee that those influenced will “walk the straight and narrow”.  It turns out that Gehazi was somewhat of a greedy fellow.  He should have known that Elisha did not serve God for any monetary rewards, but rather that Elisha depended on the LORD to provide for him and Gehazi.  After all those years of being loyal to his master, Gehazi decided to do something bold–he ran after Naaman in pursuit of those gifts.

When Naaman saw him coming, he stopped his chariot, stepped out of it, and asked, “Is all well?”  That is usually the first thing that people do when hearing from someone out of the blue.  Our thoughts almost always go to the negative.  Years ago, my sister-in-law was to meet her parents at a restaurant for lunch, but after she arrived at the restaurant and waited, her parents did not show up.  She came to my house in a panic and had me call the police and the hospital because she knew that something had happened to them.  It turns out that she went to the wrong restaurant.  We are such worrywarts!

Gehazi assured Naaman that all was well and then lied to him.  He said that two young men had arrived from mount Ephraim to the prophet’s school, and they needed money and clothing.  Gehazi asked for a talent of silver and two sets of garments for them, but it was really for himself.  Naaman assumed that Elisha had changed his mind about the gifts since they were needed by these supposed young men.  He thought that he was doing a good deed by giving these gifts for a worthy cause.  But what if he found out that Gehazi had lied?  Would he think that Elisha was in on it?  What would that do to his newly found faith?  We certainly hope that didn’t happen, but it could have.  What happens when a believer acts like an unbeliever?  People say, “Well, I’m just as good as they are.”  A believer has to be conscientious in how he or she speaks and acts at all times.  One misstep or misdeed can destroy years of Christian witness.

Naaman sent two of his servants back with Gehazi to help unload the gifts.  Gehazi took the silver and the clothing and hid them in the tower of the school, likely his room.  The servants were none the wiser and returned to Syria.  When Gehazi checked in with Elisha, for he had been gone for quite a while, Elisha asked him where he had been.  Uh oh.  Here is where it really gets tricky.  It would be very risky to lie, but usually that is what one has to do to cover up another lie.  Gehazi told Elisha that he hadn’t gone anywhere.  Remember, Gehazi is lying to a prophet, a man of God, who knew more than the average man because God revealed things to him.  The thing about lying is that the truth always comes out eventually.  Elisha told Gehazi that he knew exactly where he went and what he did.  Gehazi likely had big plans for that silver.  Perhaps he pictured himself as a wealthy landowner and no longer a servant, but that dream came crashing down upon him.  Not only would the riches be taken from him, but he would also be cursed with leprosy and so would his descendants until the end of time.  He lost his health, his job, his home, and wasn’t allowed out in public because he was now “unclean”.

If he genuinely repented to God, he would have been forgiven, but likely would still be left with the consequences of his sin for the rest of his life.  Was the greed and lying worth it?  I am sure that he would definitely say “No”.  Greed may not cause one to contract leprosy, but there is no real gain in a life lived for self.